ONE Championship will be holding 52 events at Lumpinee Stadium next year. The announcement was made at a press conference today which was attended by some of the biggest names in the sport.
The events will get underway in January, 2023 with Chatri Sityodtong now officially the stadium’s main promoter. ONE Championship has previously held 11 events in Bangkok with all of them taking place at the Impact Arena.
Chatri Sityodtong also said that ONE Championship would invest US$100 million to help grow the sport of Muay Thai in the coming years.
Upcoming event
Among the stars in attendance were Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and Stamp Fairtex. Both fighters will be in action at an upcoming ONE Championship event in Bangkok which is set for the Impact Arena in January.
The identity of their opponents was not revealed. Smilla Sundell was also in attendance at the press conference and looks set to defend her title on the January card.
Chatri announced that he would be paying much higher purses than any of the other current promoters in Thailand. While fighters like Rodtang can earn millions of baht fighting for ONE Championship they have only been getting paid a fraction of this amount for Muay Thai fights at Rajdamnern or Lumpinee.
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United front
But if rival promoters are concerned about ONE Championship paying unprecedented amounts of money to fighters it did not stop them coming to the press conference to show their support. Nuttadaj Vachirarattanawong of Petchyindee, Thainchai Pisitwuttinan of RWS, Songchai Rattanasuban of One Songchai and Deer Kiatpetch of Kiatpetch were all in attendance.
Chatri was born in Thailand and used to attend events at the original Lumpinee Stadium as a child. He has been involved in the sport for nearly four decades and says he will be broadcasting the weekly events to countries all over the world,
“I never imagined when I started Muay Thai 38 years ago at Sityodtong gym that it would lead to this moment. I’ve lived Muay Thai as a student, a competitor, a teacher, and now a CEO. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that one day I would be the main promoter for the Lumpinee Stadium to showcase our national treasure to the world. For the first time in history, Lumpinee will be broadcast live to 154 countries.”
